Reality Phones

With the iPhone, the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Most of the content of the iPhone is in its operating system, not the hardware. Apple has spent two years on this phone, which was admittedly part developing the touch screen, but probably also part writing the software, including Core Animation. Handset makers need to get something: licensing Windows Mobile or using a slightly modified version of your own OS is not enough. It has to be fully customized for the handset, right down to the volume switch. It also needs to provide a good user experience. For example, most smartphones allow storing documents in the phone's filesystem. The iPhone hides all of the filesystem from the user, instead opting for a simpler approach of storing things in Core Data databases (I presume). On a normal smartphone, one might have to type in a filename as C:\ and lots of slashes, or navigate a directory tree. Phone OSs are generally not tailored to the phone, nor do they aim for usablity. Microsoft is following the same strategy as it did with Windows: just licensing its OS to the hardware makers, all the same on every phone to be customized in small ways by the vendor.

The fact is that too many chefs spoil the soup. Carriers want their services integrated into the phone so that the consumer pays for them, and often spoil the experience. Handset makers do not have a good backing in software and therefore tend to fail in that area.

What makes Apple different is that it has an accumulated library of technologies to build its programs on. Apple has experience delivering a stellar user interface, and can extend its existing technologies and paradigms to the phone (Core Data, Cocoa, Syncing). Apple has an experience in software, and it really is the software that makes the iPhone come alive. Normal phone vendors have very little software experience, and therefore do not have technologies to do what they want with the OS.

But that is only one path to success in the cell phone market. The entire cell phone market seems to be stuck twenty years behind the computer market, as nobody seems to be able to grasp the concept that a good user experience is often going to be more rewarding, instead of locking customers in with contracts. All it would take is for carriers to hire really good customer service people, not try to kill or maim the customer and then take all of their money, and drop or shorten the contracts. A carrier that positions itself as friendly instead of a monolithic giant can succeed. Couple that with a superb software experience on the same network, and you've got a winner.

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